Child of the Wastes
by Daedric Princess of Madness
Summary: She was no longer welcome in Vault 101, and she knew nothing of the world outside. Oneshot (for now, anyway). Contains some strong language.


**A/N: I actually had this sitting around in my writing folder for quite awhile, but I decided to polish it off and post it here, even if I end up taking it down later and using it in a multi-chapter fic later (trust me, I'm dying to do a Fallout 3 fic at some point, too).**

**Enjoy.**

**WARNING: Slightly colorful language.**

* * *

White, hot light blinded Gaia's eyes as she left the vault, causing her to let out a yelp of surprise and almost fall over onto the floor. It took several minutes for her eyes to adjust to the brightness around her, but when she did, she took a deep breath. She was amazed.

The world didn't look how she pictured it would be after the war; in fact, it looked even worse. The air stank of something Gaia couldn't quite identify, but didn't really want to. Remnants of the old world littered the ground. Plastic bags, forks, shopping carts…The only thing that wasn't a disappointment was the blue, cloudless sky above her. That was a sight to see.

Gaia sat down against the rock wall of the vault, and started fiddling with her Pip-Boy. The screen was harder to see in the sunlight, but she managed to find the recording that she found on Jonas's body.

_"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first."_

The sound of her father's voice calmed her down somewhat. But even then, Gaia felt her stomach tighten. She had no idea what her father was going to say.

_"Gaia, I... I don't really know how to tell you this. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry."_

"Angry?" Gaia scoffed. Her father had left her in the vault, and she had almost been killed by the security guards and by the Overseer himself. 'Angry' was an understatement.

"Fuck you, Dad," she said in the same lazy, bitter tone of voice, even though she was aware no one could hear her.

_"I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know."_

_Know what?_ Gaia thought. But this time she said nothing. She decided that it would be best to shut up and listen to what her dad (or, more precisely, a recording of her dad) had to say.

_"...so many things could have gone wrong and there's really no telling how the overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me."_

Gaia shook then; her father had no idea the Overseer was going to turn on her.

_"Obviously you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your own."_

Gaia had never felt angrier at her father in her entire life. Yes, she was an adult, and yes, he was finally admitting that she needed to be on her own, but this...was not what she wanted. What Gaia meant was getting her own apartment in the Vault - maybe she could share one with Amata - not a surprise disappearance out of the vault with no warning.

_"Maybe someday things will change and we can see each other again,"_ Her father's voice continued. _"I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going."_

Then, after he said those words, Gaia heard a frantic Jonas telling her father to get it over with. That was when her father said he loved her and the recording ended.

And that was when Gaia felt tears drip down her cheeks, and unlike so many times in her life, she didn't try to stop them.

* * *

The only resources Gaia had was one bottle of clean water and a sweetroll Old Lady Palmer made her the day before. She was tired, hungry and - as much as she hated to admit it - she was scared. The ground beneath her feet was dried up, and the small puddles of water that were around her not clear as it was supposed to be. It was a dark green, with gas fumes emitting in the air. Gaia pinched her nose, and continued along the dried mud, until she found long path consisting of cracked concrete. It was once a road. A road where transportation - like cars, buses, trucks - used to use to get around cities and towns. But because fossil fuels ran out hundreds of years ago, now they were just abandoned.

Ahead of her, there was ruins of what seemed to once be an small, idyllic town. Gaia saw a sign nearby and read it aloud.

_"Springvale,"_ She said. Springvale was filled with many ruined buildings. The roofs had been blasted off, the windows had been smashed; leaving pieces of glass on the floor. In fact, only two whole houses seemed to be left standing.

Gaia sat against the wall of one of the houses, hugging her knees to her chest.

Once she was surrounded by people. Loving, caring people who Gaia thought she would be with always. Now that was not the case. Jonas, Old Lady Palmer, Officer Gomez,_Amata._

There was no one within a thousand miles who would be able to help her now. In fact, Gaia began to wonder if there was even anyone except from her who was alive.

_"...We stand now, at the precipice. Our great nation once more threatens to crumble, to topple into the sea of lawlessness and despair that have ruled us all for over two hundred years…"_

Gaia let out a yelp of surprise - not for the first time that day - and looked up to see some sort of small, robotic thing floating in the air. The metal casing seemed to be a bit old and out of shape. It barely acknowledged she was there, instead it floated onwards, emitting what seemed to be a radio signal.

_"...In short, my dearest America - we are at war…"_

Gaia shuddered, and sat up, not eager to encounter any more flying robots. She had to continue onwards. She had to.

* * *

_"I don't want to set the world on fire...I just want to start a flame in your heart…"_

The radio on Gaia's Pip-Boy started playing music a few moments after she left the ruins of Springvale, staying on a path that seemed to be as safe as possible. At least until she ran into the ugliest creature she had seen in her entire life. A mole rat.

Gaia shrieked, and then started hitting it with her baseball bat, having ran out of ammo at the vault. The mole rat didn't seem to take that much damage, but made a nasty sound as Gaia pulled the baseball bat away.

She was no match for anything. Not even a Mole Rat.

So Gaia ran, even though her legs were tired. She ran, even though though she had nowhere else to go. Gaia knew that the mole rate was still chasing her. Though at some point, Gaia heard a loud "bang" and turned around and saw that the rat was dead.

There was a robot standing in front of her. It wasn't any kind of robot that Gaia was used to seeing. Not like Andy. It was several years old from the looks of things, the metal casing rusting and one of the arms looked a little wonky.

"Agh! What the _fuck -"_

_"Welcome to Megaton,"_ it said. _"The bomb is perfectly safe. We promise."_

'Megaton' turned out to be a settlement. The walls were made of large pieces of metal, that looked as if they had been scavenged and thrown together to make a city. Gaia took a deep breath, and then opened the city gates.


End file.
